Kadim's reopening and the E1 tender intensify settlement pressure in the West Bank
Families returned to Kadim, evacuated in 2005, as the E1 housing tender advanced; Human Rights Watch reported that settler attacks had fully or partly emptied 107 West Bank communities.
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Families returned to Kadim
According to the regional settlers' council, thirty families moved from Tel Aviv to Kadim near Jenin on Thursday; Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the justice minister, the Knesset speaker and council head Yossi Dagan attended the opening. Kadim was the last of four northern West Bank settlements Israel dismantled under its unilateral disengagement plan in 2005; Ganim, Sanur and Homesh had already reopened. BBC News reports that the government has approved more than 100 new settlements across the West Bank since taking office at the end of 2022. All settlements in the occupied territory are considered illegal under international law.[1]
The E1 tender extends the settlement line
The E1 project covers about 12 square kilometres between occupied East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement. The current tenders cover more than 1,200 of 3,400 planned homes. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway called the tenders unacceptable and warned that participating companies could face legal and reputational consequences. Egypt objected separately, while UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed alarm over new illegal settlement outposts. Bezalel Smotrich explicitly said the plan was intended to remove the prospect of a Palestinian state through action.[2]
The displacement count is rising on the ground
Human Rights Watch reported that 107 Palestinian communities had fully or partly emptied since the start of 2023 and that settler violence had affected 5,900 people. Its investigations in seven West Bank communities during April and May 2026 found that attacks intensified during the first two months of the war on Iran. The report also alleges that the Israeli military has expelled 32,000 Palestinians from their homes since the start of 2025, emptying the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. These findings rest on Human Rights Watch's investigation; its assessment of the aims shared by the government and settlers also comes from the group's researcher.[3]
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